Moving from food to wine was always a natural step

Before he started making his wine, one of Josip Babich’s roles was errand boy for his four older brothers.

He’d leave the kauri swamps early to prepare them a meal to match the healthy appetite their work created. Records show that by 1914, Josip was buying ten loaves of bread and up to 15lbs of meat every three or four days to keep the boys fed. He became an expert at one pot cooking, combining swathes of ingredients in one large saucepan. In between digging gum and making the meals, Josip took to planting a few grape vines too. Why? Because he knew that after a hard day’s work, nothing goes better with a meal than a glass of wine or two.